Tuesday, December 14, 2004

The Catalan appeal filed today

The Catalan Federation of Roller Sports will present today in Lausanne (Switzerland) an appeal against the decision taken by the FIRS to reject the provisional recognition of the Catalan federation.
Belgian lawyer Jean-Louis Dupont will legally represent the Catalan federation.
The main points of the Catalan appeal are based on the violation of the FIRS statutes by the Central Committee who after accepting the appeal of Catalonia, did not allow any of the Catalan representatives to be heard during the following day Congress.
The appeal elaborated by Dupont will also make clear - and will present testimonial proof of the political pressures against some members of the FIRS that allegedly influenced the voting.

Hopefully the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) will act sensibly different than the FIRS Committee and will take all the opinions into consideration.
Out of 186 judges members of the TAS, three will be picked up to take the case. In addition, both the FIRS and the Catalan Federation will be asked to present evidence.
The TAS will resolve before the next World Cup in San Jose and it is expected that its decision will be that of invalidate what happened in Fresno. Consequently the scenario would be the same as it was just after the resolution of Miami, in which Catalonia was provisionally accepted as a new member of the FIRS.
If that happens, Catalonia should be allowed to participate in the A World Cup and then the possible decision of Spain would be to withdraw from the World Cup and to boycott the participation of Catalonia (as they did in the inline World Cup).

Again, let's wait and see!!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's hope TAS has more sense and it is a bit more professional. Whoever has seen the video of what happened in Fresno must know it was illegal, shameful and vulgar... above all, very vulgar. From the Catalan point of view, the worst of all was not to have been dismissed, but to have been dismissed with such oxymoronic vulgarity. That says a lot about the perpetrators.

Memebers of the Tas, please, and for the sake of hockey, allow the Catalan national team to become a full status national team so hockey can survive. To deny them such right would not only be shameful but, and from the point of view of those who love this sport, it would also be idiotic. It would be comparable to deny the US NBA players the right to play basketball for the US, or Kiwis to play the Rugby Union World Cup for New Zealand, or Brasilians to play football with their beloved Brasil. Yes, it is true that Catalans can end up playing in other national teams. But those who love any sport know very well that one will only give 110% of his/her potential when playing or competing under the flag they wish to do so. And that is what keeps sports alive, not money.

By the way, may I take this opportunity to invite everyone who has been visiting this website for the last two months (whatever your position might be concering the acceptance or non acceptance of Catalonia as a national team) to congratulate and thank Mr. dfons for keeping us all informed and for having done such a fantastic job. For is not information the root of all democratic debate?

THANK YOU MR. DFONS.

I hope whoever reads this will join me.

Anonymous said...

Do you think that the members of the TAS read this blog and could be influenced for your opinions?
stop your demagogy please !!!!!

Anonymous said...

I don´t know if memebers of TAS read this site, but you do -even if thinking all this is demagogy. I keep wondering, though, why are you so interested and read it on a regular basis if this is only demagogy! You can also add other arguments if you want to or have them. To keep saying that all this is demagogy is in itself mere demagogy, I think!!
Regarding your phrasing: "stop all this demagogy.". well, this is quiter worrying. Are you telling us to stop discussing and giving our opinions, are you asking, are you...what exactly. If you think all this is stupid, then you should go elsewhere and discuss stuff that you think is better for you, or more interesting. Of course, you are still welcome to participate here even if, in a quasi-fascistic way, all you can do is tell people to stop saying what they think.

Anonymous said...

bla,bla,bla
perque seguiu escrivin en anglès si això nomès ho llegim catalans?
sou uns demagogs,insisteixo,i el cuasifeixista seràs tu,no pas jo

dfons said...

Just a quick note to answer some of the points you have made.
1st I´ve created this blog as a forum of debate. Therefore everyone is welcomed to write his/her opinions with the only condition of these being respectful to everyone elses.
2nd The main idea of this blog is to create awareness of the situation of the Catalan national teams. Since everyone in Catalonia and Spain are fully aware of what is going on I decided to write the blog in English to reach as many people as possible.
3rd Fortunately not only Catalan people read this blog. Only today there have been 42 visits from Spain, 12 from France, 11 from the USA, 10 from the UK, 4 from Austria, 4 from Portugal, 2 from Ireland, 2 from Mexico and 2 from Denmark. And this has been the dynamic since I started the blog. So hopefully some people out there are a little bit more informed about the Catalan situation than they were before. And I know that might upset some people, especially those who think like you.
4th I really miss some good arguments from those against the Catalan national teams. It seems to me that the only argument that you use to defend your terms is that of the fact that Catalonia is in Spain and therefore the "part" cannot play against the "whole" etc etc. I must say you are not very imaginative or your arguments are very weak.

Thanks everyone for reading

Anonymous said...

What strikes me is the absolute violence used by people telling constitutions have to be respected but acting like war lords. Indeed constitutions have to be respected, so why so much aggravation? In what way are Spaniards being threatened? I am afraid most of these people invented the concept of political interference in sports. The IOC wants no political interference in sports. Therefore action should be taken against Spain if such thing is established by CAS. Thanks for having that blog in English since I don't speak Catalan and I am not Catalan. If Spaniards (Castellanos?) behave like war lords in sports they are going to command little if not no respect in the world. The French are just about as bad. What about Chirac insisting on the French Football Association to organise a game between France and China? Is that sporting 'independance'? Spain as a State is against violence. It should have a bit more self respect.